BUY I LOST MY SOUL | VED NISHAD | BOOK REVIEW

PLOT: 3/5

CHARACTERS: 3.5/5

WRITING STYLE: 2.5/5

CLIMAX: 3.5/5

ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5

My Musings

Recent times have seen a lot of Indian authors penning down their own love stories. An author who wrote one such highly popular book is Ajay K Pandey who penned the story of his love and marriage in his book “You are the Best Wife”.

I have read two more books that are classified as true love stories. Another one by Ajay K Pandey titled “You are the Best Friend” and one by Himanshu Rai who vividly described his tragic love story in his recent book “My Mute Girlfriend”.

Many things change when one is reading a true story. For one, you definitely know that everything that has been written is true, that the characters are real people and the emotions and upheavals that they went through were real.

I recently got a chance to read another true love story. I Lost My Soul by Ved Nishad is the love story of a guy who loved deeply and passionately. This book is Ved’s own story. Read on to know more about my thoughts on this book.

Cover, font style and size, and ease of readability

I Lost My Soul has an interesting cover which does a good job of arousing the reader’s interest. When it comes to the quality of the pages and the binding, the book scores really well. The font size is a bit small but a decent line spacing ensures a comfortable reading experience.

Let’s talk about the storyline

Dev is an architect who was married very young against his own wishes. He never really had a normal married life. Relations with his wife can be termed acrimonious at the best.

Young and eager, Dev gets into an online long-distance relationship with Anindini. Anindini, unlike Dev, is pretty serious about their relationship from the very start and is in for the long run.

In the course of 15 long years, their relationship sees a lot of ups and downs. I Lost My Soulis Dev’s journey in love and life.

How good was the author’s writing style?

If there’s one aspect where I Lost My Soul fails it is the writing style. It lacks imagination, creativity and is full of clichés.

With such an intriguing story in place, the author could have done so much more with the book. The possibilities were endless. Themes of loneliness and separation, when expressed beautifully, make for a highly engaging read. But in the grand scheme of things, the writing in this book fails to match the expectations of the reader.

The narrative is repetitive. It lacks pace and slows down a lot in the later half. Also, I believe the same story could have been better told in under 200 pages. A good part of the book was redundant and tiresome.

In the end, the book felt more like a chronological diary of happenings in the author’s life than an actual love story. The only consolation were the travel memories of Dev and Anindini from their time in America. Those were described most vividly and passionately.

Were the characters good?

The characters were an okay bunch. Dev is a guy who the reader can learn a lot of lessons from. His hard work, determination and intense passion is something that is hardly ever seen in real life anymore. His love for Anindini is pure and selfless.

Since, the story is written in first person from Dev’s perspective, the reader feels a lot for Dev. But the same cannot be said for other characters. All the other characters are mediocre at the best.

Let’s talk about the climax

When it comes to writing romances, an author doesn’t really have many choices as to how to end the book. In case of penning the climax of a true story, well, the number of options effectively comes down to a big round zero.

In such a scenario, it wouldn’t be prudent to actually base the rating of a book on its climax.

What I am trying to emphasize here is that even though the climax was kind of predictable it doesn’t really matter because that’s usually the case with romances.

What matters instead, is how it is written or executed. The main focus should be on how emotionally indulgent it is.

In I Lost My Soul the climax manages to do just that – indulge its readers emotionally and that’s why in my opinion, the climax was a fairly good one.

It all boils down to the entertainment quotient

When it comes to entertainment, I Lost My Soul can be classified as mildly entertaining but definitely that should not be its selling point.

More appropriately, the book is an inspirational read for people who are in love or people who ever lost in love.

When it comes to love, I Lost My Soul has lessons for both – people who are in love and those who are trying to move on from a bad relationship.

Pick up the book if

• If you enjoy reading true love stories.
• If you aren’t a regular reader.
• If you like easy reads.
• If you like cheesy and mushy reads.
• If you like romances.

Skip the book if

• If you don’t enjoy slow reads.
• If you don’t like romances.

Can’t wait to read it? Buy a copy of I Lost My Soul using the link below